Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1887-11-28
TRIALS OF PHYSICIANS.
A Doctor Talks of the Difficult
ties Encountered.

est in young Doctors life," said a
well-known physician. '.It does not
matter how nicely he is getting on,
he is sure to have built his expecta-
tons too high. A medical man always
thinks he is doing better than he is.
Leaving the simon pure charity cases
out OF the question altogether, l have
always thought myself lucky if l col
lected one half of my accounts. While
a reputable doctor looks upon adver-
Using in a general way as something
tabooed, many of us, doubt not, in
our young days have resorted to driv-
ing rapidly through various streets in
the middle OF the day. l never knew
this little scheme to hang fire, and by
the time | got back to the office l fire
quently found two or three calls on
the slate.
can oficious friend of mine," con-
tinued the doctor, ''once advised ME
to settle in the country, where the
competition wasn't so great. In six
months came near starvingto death.
The place was SO sparsly peopled and
the patients SO far apart that my time
and clothes were worth more than my
fees. By selling my library l man
aged to buy a horse and buggy and 60
to work on the cooperative plan. l
divided the county off into four dis
tricts, each Of which visited once
week. My method was to keep a
family in thorough repair for stipu-
lated sum per month. Nearly all the
inhabitants became subscribers, and
| might have thrived we'll on my little
monopoly if another smart doctor
hadn't stepped in and reduced the
rate. l returned to the city, there
settled down and married, and after
having had couple of well-known
men die on my hands l found myself
famous and in possession of lucrative
practice.
"No, l don't think there is as much
bleeding of patients as is commonly
supposed. OF course human nature IS
the same in doctor as in any one
else. He IS always number one, and
the patient number two. There are
some people whom you have got to
keep ON the sick list all the time.
They would not be happy unless they
could tell their friends all about the
torpidity of their liver and the I'M
soundness OF their lungs. A doctor
must humor such patients, and as
sure them they are really i'll when
ever they take a fancy to being SO.
This is kind of bleeding that will
never stop so long as there are such
people in the world. The old doctor [
studied under used to tell a good story
at his own expense. In his early days
OF struggle a friend twitted him upon
taking so long to cure 4 patient. why,
man, replied the old doctor, I have
so few patients that can't afford to
cure any of Them
"Speaking of quacks," continued
the doctor, after pause, "you would
be surprised what u strong hold the
empirical fraternity has upon nervous
people. They are easily convinced
that there is something awful the
matter with them. An aggravated
case of this kind recently came under
my notice. A man, whose business
often called him from home for
months at time, rushed wildly into
my office one day and begged me to
visit his wife. He said that if l
couldn't get her out of her megrims
he would either have to procure a
divorce or commit suicide. 1t seemed
that the woman, during one OF her
husbands periodical absences, fell
into the clutches of q female lecturer,
who bled her for all she was worth.
When the husband returned he found
his wife a shadow of her former self
She was melancholy and peevish +,
and was slowly wearing her.
self away. The whole house was
turned into an apothecary shop, and
the woman herself was walking ad.
vertisement OF the empires wares
AT night she made herself hideous by
wearing a complexion mask and med
icated gloves that made her hand
look like sugar hams. Their,
was scarcely an inch of her Who'll
body that was as nature made il
When | examined her SEE had on
liver pad, two lung pads, a porus plas
ter for weak back, another for
weak stomach (for the sake of syn
metry, | suppose), belts and bands o
arms and legs to prevent valicos
veins, night boots to keep the fee
, warm, and magnetic clothing whe
ever thee was any room for it. Th
bed itself was fearfully and wonder
, fully made, with all patentappliances
) | fe,t very sorry for the husband, VIII
seemed to think great deal Of hi
, wife. He was very patient with her
i although more than once he contesse,
: II xvoc bord for {, man IN love- cherlSl
o and protect woman who togged her
i self out in such fashion. IL was
II hard case to treat, but we finally con
lquered. "-(New York Sun.